It is Really Fucking Excellent at stopping bladed weapons. #6 in this article says that webbing can be 10 times stronger than kevlar. And Drowtales has giant spider fae that weave clothing. You do the math.

I've mentioned before that swords are shockingly light in the context of the perception of most individuals. A longsword typical of, say, the Battle of Hastings, would only weigh about two or three pounds.

But I'm not sure I've discussed before how swords are NOT clunky weapons at ALL. While it's true that it's more difficult to finesse very small details with a longsword, that also concurrently means that you simply use different methods to achieve the same effect. While a rapier-wielding gentleman soldier would use his rapier to find a whole in your defense, stab through, and call it a day, a longsword wielding warrior is going to find ways to disarm you or get you on the ground with his weapon. Both methods require a great amount of finesse as well as a great amount of strength and speed; neither is superior to the other.

The upshot of this is that your typical longsworder is not going to stand upright and move in straight lines, as you might think is typical from watching fencing matches. He who wields a longsword is probably going to move around to find weaknesses, try to use the terrain to his advantage, etc. Furthermore, they will definitely be using their non-sword hand to grab an enemy weapon, to slap away an enemy weapon, and to grab their own weapon to use assist in thrusting at short range or to use the pommel or the crossguard as a bludgeon. Weapons were used primarily to pierce through armor with thrusts and stabs, not cuts.

in summary, the point to be made is this: It is assumed falsely by many that sword fighting had a vast slew of rules for "honorable" combat. In reality, the fundamental idea behind swordfighting was: "Don't be retarded, you have a vast number of tools to kill the other guy."

DeadPigeonGolem wrote:in summary, the point to be made is this: It is assumed falsely by many that sword fighting had a vast slew of rules for "honorable" combat. In reality, the fundamental idea behind swordfighting was: "Don't be retarded, you have a vast number of tools to kill the other guy."

This is an important point, true. I don't know how many people still believe this, but I can't really say that ANY fighting true world's history has been "honorable". Even boxing in modern days has been quite brutal and unfair if you just give the guy a chance... Perfect example would be from certain martial arts trainers around my home, who would say "If you get in a fight where your life is threatened and can't back out of it, use anything you can. Kick to the crotch, throw sand at their face, gouge at eyes. There's nothing honorable or pure when you're killed just cause you gave the killer an honest duel which he didn't follow".

As a former kendo/kenjutsu practicer, I must also join DPG's point about swords not being clunky weapons. For example, my personal "record" to hit three decisive blows in combat (wrist, waist, head) in a row with needed strength and accuracy to kill with real katana has been only seven or eight seconds, and I'm just a rookie. My trainer could do it double as fast, and our master from Japan could still hit him even faster, around six times in four to six seconds. Of course, this kind of "full attack" is not real in combat, but it still gives out a fraction of speed swordsman can muster.

As I'm not an expert with European swords, I'm not going for them. Nevertheless, I can still take notes on Asian swordplay. And I say: one-and-half handed swords allow wielder to both hit with both hands as to help control the blade. As it isn't taught so much to use free hand to grab the enemy, instead it is used to grab your own blade's dull side and control it that way, serving as a "joint point" for your weapon to swing around. That, and mostly these longsword-length blades were used with two hands to increase control, power and speed (truthfully, this two-handed fighting style is in part reason why katana is falsely called "superior" to European swords, as majority of European swordfights use only one hand to leave other free for either shield or tricks DPG mentioned previously).

The point here is that Fungi are not a throwaway item, they can be very very VERY useful because you can literally write them into any character without screwing with the plausibility of said character, assuming that you balance the abilities of the 'shrooms with the rest of the character's ability.

Keep in mind that the crazier a fungus, the rarer it is. Consequently, the Common Roasting Puertobella costs only two crescents to purchase, while the Tolypocladia Dimunizaer Fungus, a potent immunosuprressant that greatly enhances the power of most mineral based poisons (arsenic, mercury, lead, etc.) and incredibly rare, costs roughly two thousand ada an ounce.

Last edited by DeadPigeonGolem on Fri May 25, 2012 5:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.